1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fitness equipment technology and more particularly, to a lateral glide elliptical exercise apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a lateral glide stationary elliptical exercise machine (WO2014186600), which comprises a frame, a damping means, a pair of pedal means, a pair of gliding guide means and a pair of swing means. The damping means is mounted at the frame, comprising a rotating wheel, a pair of cranks connected to an axle of the rotating wheel, and a damping wheel for providing a damping resistance to the rotating wheel. The pair of pedal means are disposed at two opposite lateral sides relative to the damping means, each comprising a pedal shaft pivotally connected to one respective crank, a pedal pivotally mounted at the pedal shaft, a link pivotally coupled between the pedal shaft and the frame, and a connection bar pivotally connected to the pedal. The damping means provides a damping resistance to the pedal means. The two gliding guide means are respectively mounted at the front side of the frame and extended vertically, each comprising a guide rod and a sliding block connected to the connection bar and slidably coupled to the guide rod.
When the user's legs are stepping on the pedals alternatingly up and down, the front ends of the pedal shafts force the respective links to cause the pedal means to perform a reciprocating motion along an elliptical orbit. At the same time, the sliding blocks are forced by the respective connection bars to reciprocate vertically along the respective guide rods, dragging the respective pedals to swing relative to the respective pedal shafts.
This design of a lateral glide stationary elliptical exercise machine can achieve the expected purposes of fitness, however, due to the gliding guide means extending vertically, when operating the pedal shafts to move the respective connection bars and to further force the respective sliding blocks to move upwardly along the respective guide rods, interferences can occur in the pivoting motion of the pivoting structures between the pedals and the respective sliding blocks and the relative sliding motion between the sliding blocks and the respective guide rods, resulting in an unsmooth operation. Further, the overall structure of this design of lateral glide stationary elliptical exercise machine is complicated.